Gale Again
by ShadowSnitch
Summary: Katniss misses Gale.
1. Chapter 1

**Gale Again **

I sit up, shivering. I'm having nightmares again. Only this time, they're much worse. I lie back down and try to go back to sleep.

Prim, Rue and Finnick are there, setting me on fire, blaming me for killing them. They hate me. Then President Snow pops up and with a bow filled not with arrows, but his stinking roses, kills them. Just like that. And then the flame which engulfs me engulfs him too, and I can hear him laughing. Gale steps in then, with a parachute in his hand. Gale. My oldest friend, and the best one I had. But he hates me too… everyone does now.

I wake up again, waving my hands madly and squarely hitting Peeta in the face. His blue eyes flutter open and he sits up, putting an arm around me. "Nightmares?"

"Nightmares," I confirm. He brushes the hair out of my face.

"Think of a happy memory. Something you like to do that you still can do." I think of it for a while. What can I do thst makes me happy? I hunt, but that's because I have nothing to do. I stopped singing ever since I moved into Victor's Village. My family and friends… my mother is somewhere in the Capitol. My sister and father are dead. Gale… Gale is in District 2 with his family, and I haven't met him for months. Gale, who invented the bomb that killed my sister and many others. Gale, who saved some of the people of 12, including my family. Gale, who had probably never even thought of me since I shot Coin.

"You okay?" he asks, bringing me back to reality. I nod, and. But I'm not okay and he knows that.

"Peeta, I'm going out for a walk."

"Katniss, it's 12 a.m."

"I'll be fine." I kiss his cheek and walk to the door. "Go back to sleep." He lies down without hesitation. He knows I have to be alone for some time.

Finally, the woods. I head towards the lake my father often took me to and dive in, hunting jacket and all. The cool water tickles my warm skin. I think of how I always wanted to bring Gale here. Now I'll never be able to.

What do I think of Gale? Have I forgiven him for the bomb, or has the little glue that held our friendship melted away completely? Does he know about me and Peeta? If he does, how does he feel? Just then, I realize how badly I've missed him. Hunting with him. Telling each other all our secrets. All of it.

Does he blame himself about the death of my sister? Is that why he stays away from me, ignoring every letter, every phone call? I want to know. I _need_ to know. I still have feeling for my old hunting partner.

And I want to see him, talk to him.

Now.

But there's nothing I can do, so I fall asleep instead, listening to the soft, calming water splashing about.

When I wake up, the sun's shining brightly and I can feel its heat on my face. It's around 10 o' clock. I bolt up, gather some katniss roots and half-run, half-walk back to Victor's Village. The smell of baking bread fills the air and I see Peeta in the kitchen, looking anxious.

"I thought you said you were going for a walk."

"Sorry, I should've come back sooner." He takes me into his arms and lifts me high. "Put me down!" I say, playfully.

"Sure, you're getting heavy." I smile. That's one thing Peeta can make me do. Only one three other people could do that. And two of them were dead. And the other one…

Peeta kisses me and puts me down. "Where were you?"

"Some pond. It was so peaceful, I fell asleep. Without nightmares."

"Well, I should take lessons from this pond." He points to a small bruise on his nose, which I had accidentally given him the previous night.

"I'm sorry. You're really turning back to your old self, you know. Your almost there."

"Almost?"

"I… don't know. Peeta, look, I didn't mean to be –"

"Cool down, Girl on Fire. Look, you're burning my bread with your heat." I take a long, deep sniff of his bread. Bread with cheese and basil leaves.

It all comes back to me: the morning of the reaping which I spent in the woods with Gale, eating Prim's cheese and bread from the bakery…

"Peeta, I need to see Gale." He freezes.

"What for? He's in District 2, and –"

"It's not like that. It's about Prim,"

"Katniss, give this some thought. Like, how will you meet him?"

"We'll go to 2. His family's there, and my mother too. She was sent there for a while." He gives it some thought.

"All right, but may I ask why? It has been a good five or six months since the, you know, rebellion."

"I keep thinking about it, Peeta. Prim screaming my name, the parachute bombs…" A tear threatens to run down my cheek. Peeta gestures for me to sit down and puts his hands on my shoulders.

"Okay. If it means so much to you, we'll go to District 2."

"Real?"

"Of course not," he says sarcastically. "Real, you dummy!" I feel the corners of my mouth moving upwards.

"Thanks. You're really nice," He pretends to faint with happiness. Another smile touches my lips.

The next two days go past in a blur. I was in District 2 before you could say 'nightlock'. I see the Nut, and remember Gale's avalanche plan. Hid death trap… was he really heartless? I knew he wasn't. He couldn't be. He wasn't.

He wouldn't have tried to save 12. He wouldn't have torn his shirt to save that injured little girl all those years ago in 12. He wouldn't have left those newborn rabbits, giving them a chance to live. He wouldn't have done so many things I don't want to think about now, for they make me feel all the more desperate.

Peeta waits inside the Justice Building while I go out looking for Gale. Every girl seems to know about him. Looks like he's not been lonely here in District 2.

"Katniss! Katniss, wait!" I turn around to see who it is. It's Rory.

"Hey, Rory," I say. I hug him for a whole minute. "It's weird living in 12 now that the Hawthorne's aren't there." I say, letting go.

"It's weird living in 2, too. Seeing everywhere nice and white instead of that black coal dust."

"So, how is everything?"

"Mother's rather sick. She hasn't been well for months now." Hazelle isn't well. Is that why Gale didn't come to 12? I badly want to ask Rory that, but instead I just give him my sympathies.

"Do you want to see her?" he asks.

"It'll be nice to, if you don't mind."

"No, it's all right. We don't have school today, it's Saturday."

"Thanks, Rory." We make small talk as we walk to wherever Hazelle is.

She's in hospital.

Great. All the Hawthornes are there, except for Gale, who's probably working. Somehow, I don't want to see him while we're in hospital with his mother. It seems wrong.

"Katniss," Hazelle says. "Nice to see you. You've been missed."

"I didn't think I would be. All I bring anyone is trouble."

"Come now, we both know that isn't true." Wrong. We both know it is.

We both stay silent for a while, and then my mother comes in. "Katniss?"

"Mother!" I run to her and hug her fondly. I haven't really missed her, but I haven't taken not seeing her for granted.

"Oh, Katniss, I never thought you'd come!" She lets me go and takes a good look at me, and spends the next fifteen minutes telling me how happy she is, and about her life, and asking about 12, and what not. Then she makes the Posy, Rory and me wait in the hospital lobby while she checks Hazelle.

I think the odds might be in my favor today. But they never are, for who should come in next but Gale, with his left arm in a sling. He's thinner and worn out, but still good-looking. At first, he doesn't really notice me for I'm standing at the far end, away from the Hawthornes with my back turned. Actually, he only sees me when Posy points me out.

I walk toward him as Vick calls me to them, and nudges Rory and Posy to clear out before he does himself.

Neither Gale nor I does or says anything. He holds out his good hand gingerly, as if we're two people who have never met before. Is that really all he thinks of me? A random girl from District 12? Could he really be the boy in the woods who I never hid anything from?


	2. A Day With Catnip

I push his hand away and hold both of his arms to his sides, forcing him to look me in the eye. Just that much is enough for us to communicate, and he throws his arms around me, as I do the same to him. My feet aren't event on the ground anymore. We stand like that for what seems like hours until he finally tears himself away. His eyes are shining with tears.

"Catnip," he says, fighting to keep his voice steady.

"Gale," I blink, and the hand gripping my arm tightens. "I've missed you."

"I didn't think you would, after all I've done. I didn't think you'd ever want to see me again."

"We really shouldn't talk here." And suddenly, we both know where we want to be. In the woods, hunting. Without letting go of his hand, I make him run with me to the nearest woods. When we finally stop, he speaks. "I'm sorry." He's talking about the bomb.

"It wasn't really your fault, Gale. You know that."

"Yes it was! I'm heartless, I shouldn't have. Even if you forgive me, even if _Prim_ does, I'll never forgive myself. I – I miss her."

And for the first time in my life, I see a tear run down his cheek. "GALE!" I yell. I sit beside him and run my hand up and down his back. Another tear.

"Gale, please stop. You know I've never seen you like this."

"I've never seen myself like this either. I hate me." And yet another one.

"Don't!" I cry. "Please? Look, it wasn't your fault and you're not heartless." I put my hand up to where his chest is. Right over his heart. "See, its right here. I can feel it."

"Catnip, do you hate me? It was my bomb, after all. I mean, I designed it."

"It's …okay. You didn't do it intentionally. And Prim was supposed to be safe under the Mockingjay Deal."

"So… you _don't_ hate me?"

"Of course not. Why would I come to see you then, huh?" I wipe his three tears away.

"Now tell me. How have you been?"

"You can see," he replies, lifting his bad arm. "Someone accidentally put a saw right in. Neatly fractured." I wince.

"You saw Mother. I couldn't leave her, Catnip. Not even to come see you."

"You would've come to District 12 otherwise?"

"Maybe. I thought you'd never want to see me again, after I gave you that arrow. I could've come, Mother was all right then."

"Well, I've almost died because I have no one else to talk to!" Suddenly I'm very angry with him.

"You should've at least come to apologize, Gale! Every time I sat in that nook in the rock it seemed too wide!" I yell at him about other things, and he doesn't object to anything.

"Did you get my letters?" I finally say, sitting down, calm once more.

"You sent me letters?" I look up to see if he's genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, dozens of them. How come you didn't get any?"

"Those girls. They keep trying to buy me. Ever since Finnick died, I'm their next target." Finnick. I choke.

"So you didn't kiss anyone since you last kissed me?" He shakes his head.

"And those girls stole your mail?"

"Probably. Beetee said he'd write to me, but I never got any mail from him, either." He leans in and kisses my forehead, just like my father used to. "Sorry," he whispers.

"Don't be. And I need to tell you something else. But I need to know something first."

"What?"

"Do you still love me?"

"Katniss –"'

"Answer my question. Do you?"

"Yes. But like you're my sister, my best and oldest friend." I hug him tight.

"Me, too. You're like the brother I never had." I hug him tightly, and he puts his good arm around me protectively.

"That's settled, then."

"What did you want to tell me?"

"I'm with Peeta." He lifts me face, looking me in the eye.

"You're joking."

"No, I'm not. Look, Gale please don't be mad at me."

"Mad at you? _Mad_ at you?" I expect him to yell at me.

But he beams instead. "I'm _happy_ for you! I've never wanted you to die alone, and now you won't."

"Even if he wasn't there, I know you would be. You'd have to come back sometime." He simply shrugged.

"Is he in District 2?"

"Yeah. He didn't even mind me meeting you."

"Let's go see him then." I stand up and race up a tree.

"Catch me first." He runs his hand through his hair and says, "You're on."

I stumble, for the branch is slippery and unexpectedly fall. I'm near the ground, so I'm not really hurt, except for a twisted ankle. I try to stand, and fall over, spraining my good ankle too.

"You've lost practice." Gale observes. "Can you walk, or should I carry you?"

"Don't be silly. You can't carry me with that arm."

"I can. Sit up first." I shake my head.

"I'm not letting you carry me." He holds out his hand. I take it and stand up. He doesn't let go.

"Let go," I say, knotting my eyebrows in confusion.

"I'll help you walk to that log, but after that, I carry you. Look, you're bleeding." He's right. I am. But he will _not_ carry me with a fractured arm.

"I won't let you carry me."

"Okay then." We get to the log, and he lets go of my hand, making me sit down. He walks ahead.

"Coming?"

"Hey, wait up. I need you to help me."

"Then let me carry you," he says stubbornly, his back still turned.

He _is_ the boy I met in the woods so many years ago. "All right, you win." He walks over to me and picks me up, grinning.

"No need to get a swelled head, _Galie_." That's what all the girls used to call him in school, and what I used to call him to annoy him.

"I'll throw you in the strem if you say that again."

"All right, Galie."

"_Catnip_," he says, warningly.

"_Galie_." I mimic his tone. Suddenly, he walks back, past the log and past the place where we sat.

The bottom of his shirt is slick with blood. "Sorry about your shirt, Galie."

We're at a stream. Gale has made a tiny hut-like thing, sheltering some part of the pond from the sun. There's a rock jutting out under it, so you could wet your feet. It's beautiful.

So he wasn't joking about throwing me in. At least not about the stream part. He places me on the rock, gently as possible.

"Did you do all this? Like, the shade and all?"

"Yeah. I even got a small supply of food ready."

"Why? Don't you get enough food?"

"No, they're for an emergency." I nod, and he uses some moss to clean my foot, the same moss from the arena.

"Hey, you don't have to do that!" I cry, pushing him away.

"As your fake older brother, I do."

"No you don't, _Galie_."

"Stop it with the nick-name, will you?"

"Not unless you stop fussing over me like I'm five years old." I won. And the next second, I find myself surrounded by water. Gale has pulled me in. Maybe I didn't win. It's cool water, and since Gale had already cleaned up most of the blood, I'm not dirtying it or anything. I can even float easily.

Gale appears, shirtless. He tosses me a green, juicy fruit half with thin, rough brown skin.

"What's this?" I ask.

"Kiwi. Eat it, they're nice." I obey. He's right, its delicious.

"Remember in 13, I'd give you some of my food?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing. Just remembering." I slide over to him, resting my head on his bare chest. Sunset was always beautiful, but now, watching it after so long with Gale, it's even better.

Wait, sunset? I've been away for hours! Plus, I'm really hungry. I tell Gale this. He gets up and comes back a minute later with chopped rabbits with carrot pieces and peas in a bowl.

"You're wasting all of this on me, you know," I say. But I eat hungrily anyway. "We really should be getting back."

"Why?" he says, not caring.

"Well, everyone will be worried."

"Why will they? We haven't seen each other for ages, they'll understand."

He's right. They won't worry.

"So, Gale, will you come to District 12?"

"I don't know."

"That's not an answer."

"Okay, I might, but not permanently."

"Why not?"

"I can't bear to. It's changed too much."

"Yes, but it's nicer."

"Besides, I have a job here. What will I do in 12? Mining? Katniss, there's nothing left there for me anymore."

"What about me? I live in 12. Don't I count?"

"You do! I'll come to see you. But I can't leave Mother. She's not supposed to move about, and I'm still the only one working, the kids are still in school."

"Is it hard, being the only one to put food on the table?"

"Not now. I get paid more, and Rory sometimes does stuff too." Silence.

"How's Peeta?" Gale asks after a while.

"He's changed a lot. Getting back to his old self. He has flashbacks sometimes, and still doesn't really remember about the Games. You know, he had a picture of you in a locket he gifted me in the clock arena. You were smiling. I wondered how he managed that."

"He told me he'd look after you in the arena, that's how." I smiled.

"You're an idiot, you know?" I say.

"That's smart, coming from a girl who has forgotten how to braid her hair, something she's been doing for years." I'd left my hair that day; I'd forgotten to braid it. But I still know how.

"Smart comeback, genius," I say sarcastically.

"Hey, it_was_ good!"

"No, it wasn't. Now get up, my leg's all right. Put on your shirt."

"Are we going to the hospital or the Justice Building?"

"Hospital. Galie's gonna cry if he doesn't see his mommy soon." He grabs my legs before I can get out.

"Galie, you're just being a bit too childish now."

"Well, 'Galie' won't let you go unless you stop calling him that."

"Okay, _Gale_."

"I've missed fighting with you, Catnip."

"Bet you've missed my squirrels, too. There aren't any here, are they?"

Gale cocked his head to the right. "Yeah, that too."

We make our way back to the hospital, and after Gale has spent some time with Hazelle, we go back to the Justice Building. Peeta's in the lobby there, talking to an attendant.

"Peeta!" I yell. "Peeta, I'm back!"


	3. not a chapter

I'm sorry I haven't updated this in months but I got sort of stuck :P I don't know where to go with this.

Send in suggestions if you can please!


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